Warning: Massive Spoilers for Cursebreaker ahead. Proceed at your peril.

Augustus Braun, 28, Victor of the 67th Annual Hunger Games

Tribute Center, Mentor's Floor

July 31st, Year 77

Augustus Braun swore under his breath as his tribute succumbed to smoke inhalation. He knew it was coming the moment Kaia Blanken got ahold of that fuel canister and matchbox, but it was still hard to watch. It always was.

At least she was unconscious long before the smoke got her, and dead before the flames did. He's seen a couple of tributes burn to death over the years and it was never pretty.

"Damn!" Saffra Glenn, Victor of the Seventy-Second Hunger Games, shouted. "Why didn't the Twelve runt think of burning down the arena last year?"

"Because last year, your tribute wasn't from the Seam, perhaps?" Gaius Gloriana, Victor of the Seventy-Third Hunger Games, replied. "She still did well, Saff. Undersee placed what, fourth?"

"Fourth is still dead, Gloriana," Saffra reminded him bluntly.

"Still, she came close. Contrary to popular belief, Twelves aren't weak, Saff."

Augustus sighed. With District One out of the Games, there was no point in staying at his station and listening to this. At least it was looking more and more likely that Saffra wouldn't be back next year. Twelve would once again have a mentor and Saffra could return to Two and he wouldn't have to deal with her constant complaining and/or gloating anymore.

He instead headed for the District Nine station, where Amber Reeves, Victor of the Sixty-Sixth Hunger Games, was staring at the screen, a look on her face that he knew all too well. Amber's tribute was also dying from the smoke. He sat down next to her, noting the dark circles under her eyes and the subtle greasiness of her hair. She'd forgotten to take care of herself again.

"I'm sorry," Augustus said as the heart monitor from Deflan's tracker went flat, and his image on the massive screen in the front of the room was replaced by the Capitol seal.

"Seventh place…" Amber sighed. Deflan wasn't the closest she came to mentoring a victor. That prize went to Riley Jefferson, who fought her way to the finale of the Sixty-Ninth Hunger Games only to fall short in third place. However, no matter how much Amber tried to distance herself from those kids who relied so much on her, Augustus could tell that it still hurt to watch them die. At least Deflan, like Opalescent, was unconscious through most of it, and his cannon fired long before the flames consumed his body. He didn't feel a thing.

"One of these days, you'll get a victor," Augustus reassured her. "You deserve the rest. Speaking of, when was the last time you slept?"

Amber gave him a sad smile. "Don't know what I'd do without you, Auggie," she said, a hint of friendly sarcasm in her voice. "The kids are fighting again, I hear."

Augustus chuckled. "That they are." He was honestly glad she was starting to open back up again. The last two years were very difficult for her, what with the Quell and all. She partially blamed Finnick for what happened, something that Augustus couldn't blame her for, being just as upset with the twice-victor as everyone else, but she also blamed herself. Sylva was the one who volunteered for her. That kind of survivor's guilt never went away.

For a while, Augustus was extremely worried for her, and while he gave her space, he also tried to be as supportive as possible. It took a while, but he had managed to convince her that her curse hadn't come back, that this was the Capitol's sick attempt at punishing the districts for the uprisings that had occurred during the Seventy-Fourth Hunger Games.

Especially since the Capitol didn't stop there.

Galaxy Wash had mysteriously vanished after the Quell, and Ignis Moto had died of old age. Mercury was distraught, but he never really bothered to find out what happened, probably because he already knew. A few more victors followed suit. Jackson Lombardi was the second to disappear, leaving District Seven without a victor. Then, Bracissa Peppery died of a sudden illness. Augustus could tell Thresh was hurting from losing all three of his mentors, but in classic Thresh fashion, he refused to show it.

Cecelia Feltner's husband and oldest son were both arrested and executed for treason after participating in the protests against the Quell. Her reaping age daughter was rigged into the Games a year later. She died in the bloodbath. Cordy Harris took in the last remaining Feltner child. Thankfully, Annalace Feltner was still too young to understand what she had lost.

Even some of the tributes themselves were affected by the Quell. Upon the realization that not even victors were safe, the would-be volunteers from the Career districts began dropping out. Augustus remembered cursing up a storm when the top volunteers dropped out, resulting in the girlfriend of one of his previous tributes and the brother of Gloss and Cashmere wound up as the chosen volunteers. Neither of them made it. He remembered how frustrated Gaius was when a young boy was reaped and no one volunteered. District Two's only saving grace that year was Mako Felix, who volunteered for an equally young girl. Apparently, she was not the chosen volunteer, but someone had to do it, was her reasoning.

She was a lovely young woman, still smiling despite the horrors she endured in the arena. Augustus envied her. A Victor who turned out to be a relatively decent person was rare.

Now, another victor was about to join their ranks, and by the looks of it, it was going to be Kaia Blanken. Augustus was alright with that outcome. As much as he wanted to mentor a tribute to victory, District Twelve hadn't had a victor since the Second Quarter Quell, and they were in desperate need of a new one with Haymitch's recent passing. Saffra just wasn't going to cut it for much longer.

Sure enough, more and more tributes fell to either smoke, flames, or falling debris.

The Games were over by that evening. Gaius sighed and slammed his communicuff shut when Kaia shoved his tribute into the flames. Saffra cheered a little too loudly, more for her new lack of job than the fact that she got a kid out of the arena alive, Augustus guessed. Gaius got to his feet and approached him and Amber, Mako right behind him. "Well, that's that," he said, a frustrated edge to his voice.

"I'm sorry, Gaius," Amber said.

Gaius sighed. "It's alright. I'm honestly surprised Digit made it to second place. Who knew that a girl from the mining district would be a pyromaniac? Besides, at least I won't have to deal with that anymore." He motioned to where Saffra was doing a victory dance.

Mako patted his shoulder reassuringly. She still seemed sad about losing her tribute on the second day of the Games in what was considered one of the biggest upsets of the year, but this was Mako. She always bounced back. "You'll get one someday. Then you can go back to mentoring for District Two."

"I think Mako and I were going to get some dinner," Gaius said. "Do you two want to join?"

Augustus nodded. "I'm down. Ames?"

Amber's face twisted for a moment as she gave the idea some thought, then nodded. "Sure. I have to get cleaned up first though, is that alright?"

Gaius nodded. "Of course. We can wait."

Amber smiled. "Good. Looking forward to it. Auggie did say he owed me a meal." She gave Augustus a friendly nudge on the shoulder before headed off to her room.

Augustus felt heat rise in his cheeks as Mako giggled like a schoolgirl. He decided to go get changed as well, and as he headed back to his room, only one thought bounce around in his head.

Did Amber Reeves just ask me to dinner without asking me to dinner?

So I was originally going to have Amber be the main mentor POV character, but I decided to give another mentor time in the spotlight. Augustus Braun, who won the year after Amber and has an unlikely yet close friendship (that I can't wait to explore!) with her, will be our eyes in the mentor room for this story. I may add another mentor for POVs if needed though. We also meet some of our mentors for the upcoming 78th Hunger Games! Saffra will likely not be mentoring next year though.

I decided to use this chapter to check up on the Victors and see what the fallout of the Third Quarter Quell looked like on their end, and the answer is bad. Very, very bad. A mini-purge took place, and several victors are now dead or missing, particularly from the districts that were considered more rebellious.

Due to the new lack of victors, how mentoring works is fairly simple. Districts are only allowed one mentor for the foreseeable future. Districts with more than one victor may be required to loan one of their victors to districts without them. It's why Gaius (yes, that Gaius!) was mentoring the Threes and Saffra was mentoring the Twelves. Shout out to rb for letting me use that idea!

Next chapter, we'll check up on Puer and how she's handling her third year as Head Gamemaker. After that, it will be time for intros! See you then!